Jerome Williams Hits The Nail On The Head

Great experience playing in Toronto. He embraced the city and they embraced him back.

Toronto is a hard working city and they expect the same from their sports stars.

He came with the mentality that he didn't care where he played, if they were going to pay him that kind of money he was going to do the best job he could. Playing in the NBA you have a social responsibility to the city, organization and ultimately the fans.

He has a disconnect with the athlete celebrity part of it because the only reason they're in that position is because people wanted to pay to see them play.

The majority of basketball players today have a huge amount of money from contracts and endorsements. Even a lot more than he saw when he was in the league not too long ago.

Every major company who endorses via the NBA has it's Canadian base set up in Toronto and so it's a huge opportunity for guys who maybe couldn't land endorsement deals in smaller markets. Most who play in Toronto have a huge endorsement advantage over those in the states because guys in the states are competing against 360+ players where as in Canada you're battling with 15 guys, which isn't a battle because there are far more companies than players. There may be 30 elite sports athletes in Canada to compete with for endorsement deals where as the states has thousands. If you don't know that then you don't understand the professional sports business. Vince Carter had Pepsi, he had Coke. Vince Carter had Nike, he had Rebok.

The JYD project gives back to the community and is there to help and inspire kids to excel and do right. It started in Toronto. He's still giving back a lot, showing kids to do the right thing and live the right life. To improve. The JYD project is about building champions and changing lives.

"We only have one rule on this team. What is that rule? E.L.E. That's right's, E.L.E, and what does E.L.E. stand for? EVERYBODY LOVE EVERYBODY. Right there up on the wall, because this isn't just a basketball team, this is a lifestyle. ~ Jackie Moon

JYD's awesome, I'm going to check out that interview later when I get a bit more time.. Seems like he's making a lot of valid points, and the JYD project is amazing.. Gotta love guys like that, would always give it his all, a real fan favorite.. Only wish there were more guys like him around the league today.

I remember there was some squawking about Williams around his self-promotion (involving his brother if I remember) and if a role-player deserved the kind of contract he landed. Not taking anything away from him though, he played hard in a Rudy kind of way.

My favourite player would definitely be a Williams. Alvin though, not Jerome. : )

I remember there was some squawking about Williams around his self-promotion (involving his brother if I remember) and if a role-player deserved the kind of contract he landed. Not taking anything away from him though, he played hard in a Rudy kind of way.

My favourite player would definitely be a Williams. Alvin though, not Jerome. : )

Jerome's contract wasn't as big as Amir's and Amir's situation is similar to Jerome's where he's getting paid because of hard work and potential.

Wow, he may not be better on paper, but i consider him a better basketball player then a carter, a hedo, a bosh because he knows how to handle himself...I feel bad for the new generation of raptor fans who are assuming that this is how pros act. Twitter is messing the nba up. Ego steroids.

i always liked JYD as a player... but as a person, i loved him even more after he retired... nobody was more visible in Toronto after they retired other than JYD and Alvin Williams.. great ambassadors for the city in the sport.. and both really exemplified what the general toronto fan base appreciate from their athletes.. hard work and loyalty

Could very well be. Too early to tell, though I think Johnson has a lot more upside on the offense that should enable that part of his game to easily exceed that of JYD's

With Johnson it still comes down to fouls. If he can stay on the court he has the potential to become an all-star in the NBA Seriously. Whether he will ever control is foul problem, I haven't got a clue, but I do know that time is running out for him to be able to do this. If he hasn't got it under control at least somewhat and shown some good progress this year in that area he could very easily wind up as a career bench energy guy.